Loop regulating mechanism for full fashioned hosiery knitting machines



Oct. 6. 1931. J. HAINES, JR LOOP REGULA'VIING MECHANISM FOR FULL FASHIONED HOSIERY KNITTING HACHINES} Filed Jan. 29, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 62 v x i5 .16

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Oct. 6, 1931. HMNES, JR 1,826,660

LOOP REGULATING MECHANIbM FOR FULL FASHIONED HOSIERY KNITTING MACHINES Filed Jan. 29, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 WITNESSES- Q I INVNTORH dfwudo Jbsquhmzzescfig 3L? BY Oct. 6, 1931.

J. HAINES, JR

LOOP REGULATING MECHANISM FOR FULL FASHIONED HOSIERY KNITTING MACHINES 4 Sheet's-She et 3 Filed Jan. 29, 1930 WITNESSES INVENTOR: W a. M 4 Jbsgvjzflames J7; e l k ,Q k BY W @TTORNEYS.

Oct. 6, 1931. J. HAINES, JR 1,826,660

LOOP REGULATING MECHANISM FOR FULL FASHIONED HOSIERY KNITTING MACHINES Filed Jan. 29, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 9 WITNESSES Z a M Joseph flaz'zzesJi;

1 N VEN TOR.-

Patented Oct. 6, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JOSEPH HAINES, 33.; OF MEADOWBROOK, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO .HAINES HOSIERY MILLS, INC., OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA LOOP REGULATING MEOHANISM FOR FULL FASHIONED HOSIERY KNITTING MACHINES Application filed January 29, 1930. Serial No. 424,178.

This invention relates to loop regulating mechanism for flat knitting machines such as are used in the manufacture of full fashioned hosiery. 4

Inthe course of producing full fashioned hosiery on machines of the kind referred to, v

lndicated by the arrows VV in Fig. I, and

the size of the fabric loops must be varied from. time to time in accordance with the gages and kinds of yarns employed to knit different portions of the stockings. With the equipment ordinarily provided in the machines for the purpose of loop regulation, all the adjustments must be made manually, and the machine must be at rest each time that v a change is required. Operation under these conditions is uneconomlc since reliance must.

be placed upon the judgment of skilled operatives to make the exact adjustments at the provision of simple and reliable mechanism capable of bringing about all the required adjustments for loop regulation automatically, with elimination of the necessity for frequent stoppages of the machines as heretofore, and with avoidance of irregularities due to errors of manual manipulation, all to the advantage of insuring greater uniformlty 1n the product and an increase in the output of the machines. 6

Other objects and attendant advantages will be manifest from the detailed description followingin coordination with the attached drawings, whereof Fig. I is 'a partial -cross sectional view of a full fashioned stocking knitting machine embodying the automatic loop regulating mechanism} of my invention.

Fig. II is a fragmentary front elevation of the machine viewed as indicated by the arrows II-II in Fig. I, and drawn to a somewhat larger scale.

Fig. III is a fragmentary perspective view showin the various elements by which the needle ars of the machine are actuated, as

well as certain parts of my new loop regulatmg mechanism.

Fig.'IV is a fragmentary cross sectional View of the machine taken as indicated by the arrows IV-IV in Fig. II; and,

Fig. V is a detail sectional view taken as drawn to the same scale as Fig. II.

The knitting machine chosen for the purposes of illustration 'herein is of standard design and construction, one of its needle bars being indicated at 10 in Figs. I and III, and the sinkers which cooperate with the needles of the bar, at 11. Up and down movement is imparted to the needle bar 10, incident to formation of fabric loops in the known manner, by means of arms 12 on a rock shaft 13 which is journaled in suitable'bearings afforded by the several transverse frames 14:

of the machine,'and said shaft is oscillated,

through a depending arin 15, by a rotary cam (not shown) on the main cam shaft 16. Another rotary cam 17 on the shaft 16 is influential in imparting the presser motion to the needle bar 10 by swinging said needle bar on its pivotal connections with the arms 12, the interposed elements including a spring pulled lever 18 with a roller 19 to cooperate with the cam 17; a rock shaft 20 for the lever; and a handle bar 21 which is pivotally connected to the depending arm 10a of the needle bar 10 and notched to engage a laterally projecting pin 22 on said lever. At 23 in Fig. III is indicated the usual loop regulatin shaft, the same having secured to it a ger 24 which operates as a stop for the lever 18, thereb to limit the approach of the roller 19 to t e cam 17 and to correspondingly limit the presser movement of t ers 11 in predetermining fabric loops of normal size. I have also indicated the usual split slack lever at 25 in Fig. III, said lever being fitted with a roller 26 which is shiftable, by means of a handle 27, from the normal position shown, into the plane of a double lobed cam 28 on the cam shaft 16, which cam 28 determines formation of lar er fabric loops in portions of each course 0 the knitting incident to'reinforcement of the high 100 e needle bar 10 relative to the sinkwith still another cam 32 on the main cam heels of stockings in the well known manner. The usual loop regulating lever is enerally designated by the numeral in igs. II and III. The bifurcated component 30a of this regulating lever 30 is free on the shaft 23 and carries a roller 31 for cooperatlon carried by the lever component 30?) in contact with the component 30a, and, in turn, to maintain the roller 31 of the latter component in engagement with the cam 32. With the equipment thus far described, whenever the size of the fabric loops is to be changed the machine is stopped; and the axis 33 of the roller 31 is adjusted manually, said ax1s thus constituting a rotatively adjustable element for loop regulation incident to knitting of successive sets of stockings on the machine. To eliminate errors attendant upon hand adjustment of the loop regulating mechanism and to dispense with the necessity for frequent stoppages of the machine for the purposes of loop regulation, make provisions as follows To one end of the axis 33 for the roller 31 on the regulating. lever component 30a is secured a bevel gear pinion 37 that meshes with a larger gear wheel 38 which is adapt-- ed to be rotated, as hereinafter fully explained, in opposition to a spring 38a. The gear wheel 38 is fast on the upper end of a shaft 39 journaled in a bearing 40, said bearing being supported by a rod 41 reaching from one side of the regulating lever component 30a. An arm 42 at the lower end of the shaft 39, is fitted with a pair of rollers 43, 44 whereof the upper one is arranged to contact with a lateral segmental wing cam projection 45 of an oscillatable collar 46 which is engaged between spaced circumferential ridges 47, 48 of a sleeve 49 free on the shaft 23. As shown in Figs. II and V, the sleeve 49 is held against displacement through abutment of one of its ends with the boss of the re ulating lever component 30b, and of its 0t er end with a collar 50 fast on the shaft 23. To facilitate assembling relative to each other and the shaft 23, the collar 46 and the sleeve 49 are both split. A third circumferential ridge 51 at the right hand end of the sleeve 49 (Figs. II and V) has peripheral notches occupied by stops 52 (numbering eight in the present instance) which stops are adapted to cooperate with the lowermost roller 44 on the arm 42. For the purposes of endwise adjustment, the stops 52 are longitudinally slotted to clear individually-associated clamp bolts 53 that take into the ridge 51 of the sleeve 49. By means of a pawl 54, the sleeve 49 is intermittently rotated for presentation of the stops 52 Suecessively to the lower roller 44 on the arm 42. The pawl 54 is pivoted on a stud 55 let into the side of the wing cam 45 and is arranged to pick ratchet teeth on the circumferential ridge 47 of the sleeve 49said ratchet teeth corresponding in number to the stops 52. Overbanking of the sleeve 49 by the pawl 54 is prevented by a spring detent 56 engaging serrations around the peripheral ridge 48 of said sleeve. The means provided for actuating the awl 54 includes an auxiliary cam shaft 5 which. extends longitudinally of the rear of themachine where it is supported in bearings 58 capable af adjustment vertically as well as horizontally in respect to the transverse frames '14, in a manner obvious from Figs. I and IV. Mounted on this auxiliary cam shaft 57 is a rotary cam 60 having a side groove 61 with radial rises 62 at circumferential intervals, there bein in the present instance four of such rises, 1. e., half as many as there are teeth in the ratchet 47. The groove 61 of the cam 60 is the upper extremity 64a of a lever 64 having ulcrum support on a supplemental bracket 65 secured to the rear longitudinal frame rail 66 of the machine. The depending extremity 64b of the lever 64 is coordinated, by means of a link 67, with-the depending extremity 68a of a motion translating lever 68. This motiontranslating lever 68 is secured to a rock shaft 69 which is supported between the transverse frames 14 of the machine. The upper extremity 68b of the lever 68 is in turn coordinated, through a link 70, with the stud 55 on which the pawl 54 is pivoted.

" Intermittent rotary motion is imparted to the auxiliary cam shaft 57 under governance of the measuring chain of the machine, which engaged by aroller 63 on chain is indicated at 71 in Figs. II andIV.

As shown, the chain 71 is fitted with special lugs or buttons 72 to under-travel a roller 73 at the end of a finger 74 secured to one end of a shaft 75. This shaft 75 extends crosswise of the machine in supplemental bearings 76, 77 secured respectively to the posterior and frontal longitudinal 66, 78 of the machine frame. ,Aflixed' to the rear end of the shaft 75 is an arm 79 which is coordinated, by means of a link 80, witha pawl guard element 81 free to oscillate on the auxiliary cam shaft 57. The upward segmental portion 81a of the guard element 81 0 erates as a check upon a pawl 82 in control ing picking of a ratchet wheel 83 fast on the auxiliary cam shaft 57 As shown in Figs. II and IV, the pawl 82 is carried by an arm 84 alongside the guard element 81, said arm, being constantly oscillated by virtue of connection with the rod 85 of an eccentric 86 on the mam cam shaft 16.

In the operation of my inventlon, as each of the lugs or buttons 72 on the measurmg chain 71 passes beneath the roller 73 on the finger 74, motion is communicated, throu h the shaft 7 5', the arm 79 and link 80, to t e pawl guard element 81, which 1s therebv swung so that the pawl 82 is permitted to pick the ratchet wheel 83 on the auxlhary cam shaft 57 to the extent of one tooth; and in this connection it is to be assumed that the number of buttons 72 on the measuring chain 71 is such as to bring about a complete rotation of the auxiliary cam shaft 57 durlng each cycle period of the machine. Incident to rotation of the auxilia cam shaft 57 in the manner just explaine the radial rises 62 of the cam thereon, induce successive actuations of the roller lever 64 with impartation of movement, through the link 67, the lever 68 and the link 70, to the wing cam 45, and at the same time to the pawl 54 which picks-the ratchet teeth 47 on the sleeve 49 one at a time. Since there are but four radial deviations caused by the rises 62 in the rotary cam 60, it follows that the sleeve 49 is rotated through but a half revolution during each cycle period of the machine wlth presentation of only four of the stops 52 to the arm 42, the remaining stops being duplicates of the others and correspondingly adjusted to function during alternate cycle periods. The function of the wing cam 45, it will be noted, is to swing the arm 42 clear of the stops 52, thereby to enable stepping about of the sleeve 49 by the pawl 54-incident to substitution of one stop for another. Such movement of the arm 42 is of course attended initially by rotation of the gear wheel 38 in one direction; but as the cam 45 returns to the normal illustrated position, the spring 38a induces counter rotation of said gear wheel, such counter rotation being however limited by engagement of the arm 42 with the newly presented stop 52. As a consequence of being coordinated, through the gears 37,

38 with the arm 42, the eccentric axis 33 of the roller 31 on the regulating lever component 30a is rotated each time to a different angular position from that previously occupied, and the loop regulating shaft 23 is thereby swung through a correspondmg angle with predetermlnation of larger or smaller loops by the knittin instrumentallties of the machine in the (DOWII manner. Loop regulation is thus brought about through variant rotation of the eccentrlc axis 33 of the roller 31, and not by actuation of the screw 35, said screw being serviceable however as an auxiliary adjusting means in making master adjustments of the loo regulating shaft 23 as may be required from time to time. I

Having thus described claim 1. Loop regulating mechanism for flat my invention, I

knitting machines comprising in combinato effect changes in the size of the loops of the fabric produced by the machine; means foractuating the adjustable element; and a rotatable member with a series of stops adapted to be substituted one for another in determining different rest positions for said element in accordance with the size of the loops to be formed.

3. Loop regulating mechanism for flat knitting machines comprising in combination, a loop regulating shaft; an element on the loop regulating shaft capable of adjustment to effect changes in the size of the loops of the fabric produced by the machine; means for actuating said element; a rotatable member with a series of stops to determine diiferent rest positions for said element in accordance with the size of the loops to be formed; and means for intermittently rotating said member to bring the stops one after another into active position. v

4. Loop regulating mechanism for flat knitting machines comprising in combination, a loop regulating shaft; a regulating lever on the regulating shaft carrying an element capable of adjustment to effect changes in the size of the loops of the fabric produced by the machine; means for actuatin the adjustable element; and a member with a series of stops adapted to be substituted for one another in determining diflerent rest positions for said element in accordance with the size of the loops to be formed.

5. Loop regulating mechanism for fiat knitting machines comprising in combination a loop regulating shaft; a regulating lever on the regulating shaft carrying an element capable of rotative adjustment to effect changes in the fabric produced by the machine; means for actuating the adjustable element; and a member with a series of stops adapted to be substituted for one another in determining diflerent rest positions for said element in accordance with the size of the loops to be formed.

6. Loop regulating mechanism for flat knitting machines comprising in combinastitution of one stop tion, a loopregulating shaft; a regulating lever on the regulating shaft carrying a roller to cooperate with a rotary cam on the main cam shaft of the machine, the axis for said roller being eccentrically mounted in the lever and capable of rotative adjustment to effect changes in the size of the loops of the fabric produced by the machine; an arm coordinated with the eccentric axis of the roller; means for actuating the arm; and a -member with a series of stops adapted to be substituted for one another in determining different rest positions for the arm in accordance with the size of the fabric loops to be formed.

7. Loop regulating mechanism for flat knitting machines comprising in combination, a .loop regulating shaft; a regulating lever on the regulating shaft carrying a roller to cooperate with a rotary cam on the main cam shaft of the machine, the axis of said roller being eccentrically mounted in the lever and capable of rotative adjustment to effect changes in the size of the loops of the fabric produced by the machine; an arm coordinated with the eccentric axis of the roller a rotatable member carrying a series of stops to cooperate with the arm in determining different rest positions for the eccentric roller axis; and means for intermittently rotating said member and for concurrentlyswinging the arm to clearing position incident to subfor another.

' 8. Loop regulating mechanism for flat knitting machines comprising in combination, a loop regulating shaft; a regulating lever on the regulating shaft carrying a roller to cooperate with a rotary cam on the main cam shaft of the machine, the axis of said roller being eccentrically 'mounted in the lever and capable of rotative adjustment to effect changes in the size of the loops of the fabric produced by the machine; an arm coordinated with the eccentric axis of the roller; a rotatable member carrying aseries of stops to cooperate with the arm in determinin different rest positions for the eccentric roller axis; a pawl for intermittently rotating said member; and means movable with the pawl for concurrently swinging the arm to clearing position incident to substitution of one stop for another.

9. Loop regulating mechanism for flat knitting machines comprising in combination, a loop regulating shaft; a regulating lever on the regulating shaft carrying a roller to cooperate with a rotary cam on the main shaft of the machine, the axis of said roller bein eccentrically mounted in the lever and capable of rotative adjustment to effect changes in the size of the loops of the fabric produced by the machine; an arm coordinated with the axis of the roller; a rotatable member carrying a series of stops to coopcrate with the armin determining different rest positions for the eccentric roller axis; a pawl for intermittently rotating said member; and means subject to the measuring chain of the machine for actuating the pawl.

10. Loop regulating mechanism for flat knitting machines comprising in combination, a loop regulating shaft; a regulating lever on the regulating shaft carrying a roller to cooperate with a rotary cam on the main cam shaft of the machine, the axis of said roller being eccentrically mounted in the lever and capable of rotative adjustment to effect changes in the size of the loops of the fabric pro need by the machine; an arm coordinated with the eccentric axis of the roller; a rotatable member carrying a series of stops to cooperate with the arm in determinin different rest positions for the eccentric ro ler axis; a pawl for intermittently rotating said member; a rotary cam instrumental in operating the pawl; pawling means deriving motion from the main cam shaft of the machine for rotating the last mentioned ro tarycam; and means subject to the measuring chain of the machine for governing the activity of said pawling means.

11. Loop regulating mechanism for flat knitting .machmes comprising in combination, a loop regulating shaft; a regulating lever on the regulating shaft carrying a roller to cooperate with a rotary cam on the main cam shaft of the machine, the axis of said roller being eccentrically mounted in the lever and capable of rotative adjustment to effect changes in the size of the loops of the fabric produced by the machine; an arm coordinated with the eccentric axis of the roller; a rotatable member carrying a series of stops to cooperate with the arm in determlning different rest positions for the cocentric roller axis; a pawl for intermittently rotating said member; means movable with the pawl for concurrently swinging the arm to clearing position incident to substitution of one stop for another; a rotary cam instrumental in operating the pawl; pawling means deriving motion from the main cam shaft of the machine for rotating the last mentioned rotary cam; and means subject to the measuring chain ofthe machine for governing the activity of said pawling means. 12. Loop regulating mechanism for flat knitting machines including in combination, a loop regulating shaft, an element on the loop regulating shaft capable of eccentrically-rotative adjustment to effect changes in the size of the loops of the fabric produced by the machine; a rotary cam instrumental in actuating said element; and pawling means deriving motion from the main shaft of the machine to intermittently rotate the cam.

l3. Loop regulating mechanism for flat knitting machines including in combination, a loop regulating shaft; an element on the loop regulating shaft capable of eccentrically-rotative adjustment to effect changes in the size of the loops produced by the machine; a rotary cam instrumental in actuating said element; paWling means deriving 5 motion from the main cam shaft of the ma JOSEPH HAINES', JR. 

